Coalition wants more funding for infection control tracking system

A coalition of 30 healthcare and patient safety organizations--spearheaded by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology--wants Congress to provide $31.5 million to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's online healthcare-associated infection tracking system, as well as its infection-control research program.

In a letter sent this week to leaders of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education, the coalition maintains that the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network and Prevention Epicenters Program are "critical" to HAI detection and prevention. HAI complications increase U.S. healthcare costs by more than $30 billion annually, the letter states.

"These programs should be a priority, even in this climate of limited financial resources, because they are uniquely positioned to protect patients and the public from disease and death related to healthcare-associated infections and to detect the transmission of infections that are highly resistant to antibiotics," the coalition writes. "HAIs are among the leading causes of preventable harm and death in the United States. CDC estimates that one in 20 hospitalized patients develops an HAI."

In March, the Premier healthcare alliance released the results of a quality improvement study that showed that since 2008, 300 hospitals participating in its QUEST initiative to avoid patient infections and mishaps had saved roughly 92,000 lives and avoided $9.1 billion in additional costs. In particular, participating hospitals reduced mortality rates from sepsis by 23 percent, saving about 6,800 lives per year. QUEST hospitals also cut harm to patients from central-line blood stream infections, which dropped by 59 percent; urinary tract infections, which fell by 19 percent; and falls and pressure ulcers, which declined by 64 percent.

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Matt Hawkins is a pediatric interventional radiologist and an assistant professor in the department of radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University in Atlanta. Previously, he served as a vascular interventional radiology fellow at the University of Washington/Seattle Children's Hospital. He also currently serves on the American College of Radiology-Young and Early Career Section Executive Committee, ACR's Metrics Committee, the Society of Interventional Radiology's CPT Committee, American Roentgen Ray Society's Outcomes and Quality Improvement Subcommittee, RSNA's Public Information Advisory Network and the Society for Imaging Informatics' (SIIM) Content and Publications Committee.

FierceHealthIT is the leading source of Healthcare IT news with a special focus on EHR adoption, Telecmedicine, HIPAA compliance and other critical areas. Join 51,000 healthcare industry insiders who get FierceHealthIT via daily email for their must know IT news.